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Bowie High student Jonathan Nolon died prematurely because of a heart abnormality, according to the state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.

Nolon suffered from a cardiac arrhythmia due to a coronary artery anomaly, an official said. An autopsy was conducted on Feb. 19.

Nolon, a Bowie football player, collapsed during a football team conditioning workout on Feb. 18 and was later pronounced dead.

Dr. Douglas Zipes, a distinguished professor emeritus at Indiana University's School of Medicine in Indianapolis and a heart rhythm expert, said the condition could have caused Nolon to suffer from cardiac arrest.

"[With an anomaly], one of the coronary arteries takes a very unusual path to the heart muscle so that during exertion, there may be insufficient blood flow to the heart muscle," Zipes said. "That creates a condition called ischemia, which is very similar to a heart attack."

Judy Nolon, Jonathan's mother, said her son passed a general physical prior to last fall's football season. The Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association requires all students to undergo physical exams prior to their sport's regular season.

Darrell Pressley, a spokesman for Prince George's County Public Schools, said all county coaches are required take CPR training, which typically includes training. In addition, automatic external defibrillators are required on campus and at athletic events by a 2006 state law enacted after the death of an 18-year-old Silver Spring student, Andrew Helgeson, who died in May 2005.

However, there has been some discussion by parents as well as school and health officials over whether student athletes should also be required to have an electrocardiogram, a medical test that verifies a heart's healthy electrical activity. Zipes said an electrocardiogram may have warned doctors that Nolon had a problem.

"It depends on the extent of the coronary artery anomaly and the potential damage it might have already done to the heart," Zipes said. "If there was no damage, it probably would not have been seen on an electrocardiogram."

Since her son's death, Judy Nolon said she believes students should be required to have an electrocardiogram before playing sports. Zipes supports that, as well as having defibrillators at athletic events. According to a report by the Bowie Police Department, CPR as well as an automatic external defibrillator were used in an attempt to revive Nolon.

Zipes said a cost analysis study had established electrocardiograms as acceptable medical therapy in the United States, along the lines of breast and gynecological examinations.

Physical exertion would have been the most likely external factor in Nolon's death, but Zipes said death could have happened at any time.

"It could also have happened while watching television and getting excited, or running up a flight of stairs," Zipes said.

E-mail Sarah Richards at srichards@gazette.net.